Speckle reduction in laser projection displays through angle and wavelength diversity

Speckle is the main obstacle for the use of laser light sources in projection technology. This paper focuses on speckle suppression by the reduction of temporal coherence which is provided by the broadband laser light. The investigation of the effect of laser spectrum width and multiple lasers on speckle contrast is discussed. A broader spectrum width of the laser light is attained by the use of multiple semiconductor laser diodes of the broad area type. Measurements of speckle contrast with and without angle diversity are performed for two and four laser diodes. The measurement of speckle contrast for a single laser diode is also presented for comparison. The experimental results show that multiple laser diodes provide lower speckle contrast as compared to a single laser diode. In addition, it is also shown in this paper that the wavelength distribution of independent laser diodes has an effect on speckle contrast. Two different types of blue laser diodes, Nichia NUB802T and Nichia NUB801E, which have slightly different central wavelengths, were used for the measurements. Four laser diodes with a combination of two types of laser diodes offer better speckle contrast reduction than four laser diodes of the same type due to an effective broader spectrum. Additional speckle contrast reduction is achieved through the angle diversity by using a dynamic deformable mirror. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America